Who's a Pretty Polymath then?
ChatGPT exploded onto the market around the end of 2022. It was a sensation, an absolute wonder. The laypersons were agog, this Chatbot app could do anything, it was a polymath with great writing skills, it was incredible, breathtaking, What was this magic?
In a way, it was, as it is a neural network, which are complex, opaque, and unexplainable even to the scientists who built and train them. Moreover, some of the vast dataset it was trained upon was of unknown provenance, veracity, or integrity as it had been recklessly scraped from all corners of the internet in the largest theft of intellectual property the world has been witness to. But things are far worse as there are serious ethical issues surrounding OpenAI use of that misappropriated data; from the sanitization of the dataset, through exploitive unethical practices in data labeling, to the unconscionable effect this chatbot is having, and will further have, on the rights of individual, society, and the environment.
To deflect the narrative away from these threats the AI Industry cunningly used another piece of magic, a sleight of hand so to speak. The goal is to steer the narrative away from these inherent ethical failings. The Generative AI builders' and advocates conjured up the old 'AI existential threat' argument as a knowingly informed deceit. Technocrats also signed letters seeking an urgent hiatus in AI development that stank of being hypocritical and self-serving. Other Technocrats penned essays; along the lines of, 'AI will Save the World', no less. Another deceit based upon the fallacy that AI technology will benefit all mankind and children will all have equal opportunities through AI personal mentors. It fails to reflect upon Technology's passed record where it benefits some (makes the wealthy super-wealthy through wage and wealth inequality but never makes any significant dent in the social demographic. Indeed the poor are getting poorer and growing as a percentage each year, so much for the golden age of technology. The lack of empathy that today's technocrats have with society as a whole, is astonishing. It's kind of like Marie Antoinette's, ignorant response to be told that the people were hungry and couldn't afford bread, 'Well, let them eat cake!'
For us to understand ChatGPT and the Technocrats' objectives we will need to understand OpenAI's motivation and intentions, and importantly we need to understand its architecture. Not for us but for the sake of the planet. In March ChatGPT became powered by GPT-4. But this is no incremental evolutionary step, this is a quantum leap with a destination unknown.
The hype surrounding OpenAi's ChatGPT is dizzying and mesmerizing, and the costs involved in development and operation tear blinking. But for all that, it isn't really clever. It is a predictive Parrot albeit a very persuasive and convincing one.
In this book, we will analyze ChatGPT and its underlying Large Language Models to see just how they work and how well they deliver, commercially, technically, financially, and strategically for us the individual, or for small and medium businesses. The hype surrounding OpenAi's ChatGPT is dizzying and mesmerizing, and the costs involved in development and operation tear blinking. and a major threat to the planet.
The goal of this book is to do just that. It is not to devalue but to sensibly try to peer through the fog of hype and forensically evaluate the true worth of the chatbot. To determine ChatGPT's practical and viable utility and realistic value and to hopefully catch a glimpse of what the future of generative AI beholds.
